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Combining a love of theater with environmental activism
I was passionate about theater when I was growing up, I was lucky enough to start my own store front theater while I was still in high school. This led to full scholarships to Denver University and Schiller College in London, England. Although I loved theater, I realized, early in my life that I was really more service-oriented, so I poured myself into teaching children. I spent most of my teaching career in low-income neighborhoods in San Francisco. My curriculum integrated theater, music, science, art, and ecology (my new passion). Later, my husband and I opened a bookstore on Haight street in San Francisco, which became the fulcrum point for a lot of my environmental activism.
I was involved with Earth First! in the late 1980's. That was a challenging period in my life, because we were fighting to save the 3% of ancient Redwood forests remaining from corporate logging. We used our bookstore as an educational center for the campaign. There was a dark side to the fight. This was the time when Judy Bari, an amazing woman and a non-violent leader in Earth First! was bombed in her car--and the FBI was implicated. Shortly after the bombing our bookstore was targeted by the IRS. It was a real turning point in my life and I became savvy about the power and corruption of corporate America.
Becoming a filmmaker: Inspired by the passion and courage of women
I got inspired to tell women's stories through the Bioneers, a yearly gathering of leading environmentalists focused on finding positive solutions. Bioneer women are powerful, outrageous and inspiring. It's the women who really moved me to tell their stories.
My first film, Texas Gold, is the story of one woman, Diane Wilson, who takes on the petrochemical industry in the most toxic place in America. Diane has more courage than anyone I have ever heard of or known. She is akin to Gandhi in many ways – willing to put her own life on the line for what she believes.
Most people don't know that there are a lot of great environmental films out there. The problem is that they aren't distributed to a wide audience. That's why I started my non-profit Reel Community Action. We've built a library of the best films and sustainability models, and we work to get these films into the hands of lead activists in communities so they can focus on tried-and-true sustainability models, raise money, and motivate people to take action.
The role of humor and entertainment in the Age of Restoration
I believe we are entering a new age, the Age of Restoration. This is the time when we must begin restoring our earth and clean up the mess we made this last 100 years of the industrial revolution. Yes, machines need to be reinvented that can lessen our impact, but mainly it's clean-up time--and women are especially good at that, because we see the big picture, how everything is inter-connected. Nurturing one another, nurturing our planet, and nurturing our children is part of our fundamental nature. Women 50+, in particular, have enough wisdom and experience and do what needs to be done.
Women activist can be fierce, resilient and as Diane Wilson says "unreasonable." Now with climate change, our greatest challenge, it's important to remember to keep our sense of humor even in the direst circumstances. I sometimes think the more accomplished you are, the funnier you tend to be, because you see all the craziness and your own place in it, and to survive you have to enjoy your life and not take yourself too seriously, especially if you are an activist. Humor is powerful. That's why I want people to connect with good storytelling and great filmmaking. Many people don't watch environmental films because they think they're scary and depressing--and it's true that some films are just talking heads telling us how bad it is. Fortunately, there are many great films with entertaining, funny characters in them, that are story-driven, and that follow someone who is full of joy and life, doing something heroic--the work that many environmentalists are doing.
I was passionate about theater when I was growing up, I was lucky enough to start my own store front theater while I was still in high school. This led to full scholarships to Denver University and Schiller College in London, England. Although I loved theater, I realized, early in my life that I was really more service-oriented, so I poured myself into teaching children. I spent most of my teaching career in low-income neighborhoods in San Francisco. My curriculum integrated theater, music, science, art, and ecology (my new passion). Later, my husband and I opened a bookstore on Haight street in San Francisco, which became the fulcrum point for a lot of my environmental activism.
I was involved with Earth First! in the late 1980's. That was a challenging period in my life, because we were fighting to save the 3% of ancient Redwood forests remaining from corporate logging. We used our bookstore as an educational center for the campaign. There was a dark side to the fight. This was the time when Judy Bari, an amazing woman and a non-violent leader in Earth First! was bombed in her car--and the FBI was implicated. Shortly after the bombing our bookstore was targeted by the IRS. It was a real turning point in my life and I became savvy about the power and corruption of corporate America.Becoming a filmmaker: Inspired by the passion and courage of women
I got inspired to tell women's stories through the Bioneers, a yearly gathering of leading environmentalists focused on finding positive solutions. Bioneer women are powerful, outrageous and inspiring. It's the women who really moved me to tell their stories.
My first film, Texas Gold, is the story of one woman, Diane Wilson, who takes on the petrochemical industry in the most toxic place in America. Diane has more courage than anyone I have ever heard of or known. She is akin to Gandhi in many ways – willing to put her own life on the line for what she believes.
Most people don't know that there are a lot of great environmental films out there. The problem is that they aren't distributed to a wide audience. That's why I started my non-profit Reel Community Action. We've built a library of the best films and sustainability models, and we work to get these films into the hands of lead activists in communities so they can focus on tried-and-true sustainability models, raise money, and motivate people to take action.
The role of humor and entertainment in the Age of Restoration
I believe we are entering a new age, the Age of Restoration. This is the time when we must begin restoring our earth and clean up the mess we made this last 100 years of the industrial revolution. Yes, machines need to be reinvented that can lessen our impact, but mainly it's clean-up time--and women are especially good at that, because we see the big picture, how everything is inter-connected. Nurturing one another, nurturing our planet, and nurturing our children is part of our fundamental nature. Women 50+, in particular, have enough wisdom and experience and do what needs to be done.
Women activist can be fierce, resilient and as Diane Wilson says "unreasonable." Now with climate change, our greatest challenge, it's important to remember to keep our sense of humor even in the direst circumstances. I sometimes think the more accomplished you are, the funnier you tend to be, because you see all the craziness and your own place in it, and to survive you have to enjoy your life and not take yourself too seriously, especially if you are an activist. Humor is powerful. That's why I want people to connect with good storytelling and great filmmaking. Many people don't watch environmental films because they think they're scary and depressing--and it's true that some films are just talking heads telling us how bad it is. Fortunately, there are many great films with entertaining, funny characters in them, that are story-driven, and that follow someone who is full of joy and life, doing something heroic--the work that many environmentalists are doing.
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